H1Z1 Pro League shuts down due to financial problems
The H1Z1 Pro League is shutting down mid-way through its first season after running into numerous financial issues.
The league started in April 2018 and planned a season of two splits and a National Championship,with everything taking place on LAN at Ceasar’s in Las Vegas. The first split took place from April to June and was won by SettodestroyX. A date for the second split was originally intended to be September 15, but the start was pushed back indefinitely.
In addition to the split being pushed back, the league revealed there are no plans to schedule a second season.
ESPN, the Pro League was supposed to pay each organization $400,000 per year, but failed to do so.
H1Z1 attracted major organizations like Luminosity, Cloud9, Team SoloMid and Echo Fox, however these teams were experiencing significant financial losses as they continued to pay their players without any compensation from the league.
Jace Hall, the chairman of H1Z1 developer Twin Galxies, said they are still planning on compensating teams as originally promised.
Despite being one of the first Battle Royale games, H1Z1’s popularity has been eclipsed by Fortnite, PUBG and Black Ops 4’s new Blackout mode.
Fortnite has seen success in turning Battle Royale into an esport with their Summer and Fall Skirmish events, though they are significantly less structured than what H1Z1 was attempting, choosing to focus on content creators in one-off tournaments.